Lillianna (LeeLou) Smith...It's a girl!!!

I say LeeLou in parenthesis because we are still not 100% settled on the middle name... Well, I am. But I guess Smitty is still up for change if he finds something he absolutely loves and will be willing to fight me about it! :) And where did we come up with this strange name, you ask... Lillianna LeeLou Smith... Well we both loved Lillianna as soon as we heard it but we weren't sure about a middle name. Someone on facebook suggested we use one of our moms' middle names and see if we liked that. Somehow we ended up saying them both back to back, his mom's middle name being Lee and my mom's middle name being Lou and really liked the way it sounded! So it just kind of stuck. And now the more I hear it and say it, the more I love it!!! Besides, with a plain last name we can get away with a rare name like Lillianna LeeLou Smith, don't you think???

Here are the pictures from our last ultrasound! Enjoy!



This is the picture that says she's a girl...

This is a sideways shot of her. Her head is to the right and the white line along the top is her spine!

These are some 3D shots of her back... She was facing my spine the entire time and we could not get her to flip over so we could see her beautiful face at all...

In this one, you can see her left arm bending back up toward her face, like she's sucking her thumb I like to think. :)

This is another sideways shot of her spine.

This is her little foot!!! Toes and all!!! How cute is that!?!?!?!

This is her leg and her foot right where the arrow is.

This is a 3D of her spine. They like to see that the spine tapers together at the bottom. If it was still opened at the bottom it would have been indicative of a disability.

Her spine and ribcage!

Another sideways shot... If you can see the dark circle within her body to the left of the ultrasound, that is her bladder. This shows that the bladder is filling up normally meaning that her kidneys are functioning well!

And a non 3D of the spine tapering together to the left.

Our beautiful and amazing Lillianna! Can't wait for you all to be able to actually meet her!!! Well, and us too... I REALLY WANT TO MEET HER!

Guess July 2nd can't come fast enough for me!

Baby Smith

I know it's been quite a while since I've blogged but I just wanted to post this picture for anyone who may still be checking.

This is the baby, upside down. The head is on the bottom, the body on top of that. And on the left is a little arm and up at the tippy top are the two little legs.

Who Popped The Question???

So you might as well all know, Bubba asked me to marry him and I said yes!!!

As of right now, the wedding is being planned for September 26, 2009 so I've got lots and lots of planning to do, starting this weekend. Saturday morning is a trip to David's Bridal and Sunday after church I'm going to register at a couple of places. Busy, busy, busy!!!

I'll try my best to keep you all posted as to the happenings and such!

Is This Real Life???

I was a little blue when only two people showed up for youth group tonight! But at least they were up for some fun!!!

Spelunking Otherwise Known As Caving

SPELUNKING: The hobby of practice of exploring caves

(http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spelunking)

Yes, Yes...I know it has been quite a while since I have posted... And I'm very sorry!!! But as I recently had quite a bit of fun exploring the Clarksville Caves in Clarksville, NY I thought it would be fun to post the pictures from the experience! Hope you all enjoy!!!

This is the before picture. We're all still nice and clean and dry!

And here's the after picture. We're soaked and filthy and gross!

This is the hole we had to go into in order to get down into the caves. Only slightly larger than me I think.


Once down in that hole we were in the actual cave. The entire ceiling of the first cavern was all fools gold. Doesn't it look so beautiful!!! It was stunning and this picture doesn't even begin to do it justice...

This was a bit further into the cave. There was a little underground stream running down the middle of the cave for almost the entire way. At first we were able to hop on different rocks and avoid getting wet but eventually the rocks thinned out and we ended up having to just walk right through the stream. And boy was it cold!

Just another picture in the cave. The ceiling was higher here but at some points it was very close to your head...other points you had to squat and shimmy or crawl.

Joy and her friends Hollan (green jacket) and Vartan (blue jacket) in the cave.

This is actually a shot of the group walking ahead of me although it's hard to tell because of the fogginess. The fog/mist effect was caused by our breath. I was very damp and cool in the cave and there wasn't much air flow so whenever we breathed out it created a mist that did not quickly dissipate. It was kind of a cool effect though because your breath just kind of hung in the air and then slowly moved away still almost in formation.

So the story behind my hand is this. Bubba attempted to climb up a piece of the cave wall behind us and a massive clump (bigger than my head) broke off of the wall where he was holding on. After it broke off though, we realized that it was actually a massive lump of clay and that there was a ton of clay in the actual wall of the cave! It was super moist and got on my hand because I felt the need to play with the clay...What can I say, it's the child in me!

This picture was taken after we as a group decided to go further up the tunnel/underground stream. We knew that the water got pretty deep (about waist high) but we wanted to go for it anyway. We started heading into the water and by the time we got as deep as we did it hurt so bad. We were all yelling "Ahhhh, it hurts...Pins and needles...Go back...Go back!" So we turned around and headed back...Appearantly there was a new tunnel a bit further up but we would have had to be in up to our waists...We decided to save that for a warmer day and plan on going back in couple more months.

Unexpected Delivery

Yesterday proved to be quite the stressful day at work! Nearing the end of the day we had an incident in which a consumers fingers got shut in a van door and at the very end of the day she needed to be taken to the emergency room for x-rays. In the midst of my stress and me calling family, service coordinators, day hab coordinators, etc. my desk phone beeps in and tried to get my attention. Unfortunately I was on my work cell with someone regarding the incident so I told the receptionist that I would just come out to reception. Still on the cell phone I make my way out to reception to see what Mary needs only to open the door to the lobby and see my sweetheart standing there holding a dozen roses and a very sweet card! I can't tell you how much better I instantly felt. Even though I still had to deal with the phone calls and emergency procedures the burden and weight of the stress lifted. Instead I felt incredibly adored and significant!

Coffee Craziness!

Last night some people from the church went to the Annual 2009 Gospel Gala in honor of Black History Month and for some reason I was not thinking and I parked my car at the church and rode up to the Palace Theater with Pastor Mike and his wife as well as one other. At the end of the show one other person had jumped on board for riding home with the Frati's. Now I probably wouldn't have minded but that would have been three people in the backseat...and none of us were tiny! So to fix the situation in my head and have a little more room, I asked Mrs. Smith if I could ride home in her car since she only had an Natalie and Shyvonne. Well, she said yes and that's where our adventure begins...

Once we were in the car and on our way she mentions coffee...Well anyone who knows me at all knows that I LOVE COFFEE!!! But at this point it was about 10:00pm and were weren't sure that anything right near the Palace would be open besides somewhere like Dunkin Donuts. Well none of us really wanted that anyway...Mrs. Smith wanted real "coffee house" coffee. So we decided that I would show her the way to The Muddy Cup...good coffee.

We arrive at The Muddy Cup where the adventures officially begin...It took us somewhere around 10-15 minutes to order 4 drinks...mine being ordered first. Thankfully I know what I like and stuck with something I knew I would enjoy. So we get the coffees, find a couch and plop down for some conversation!!! Then...the coffee kicks in...and the conversation turned into about an hour of hysterical fits of laughter!!! So much so that Mrs. Smith has to use the ladies room. Well...unfortunately the one at The Muddy Cup isn't in the greatest condition, as far as cleanliness is concerned. So she decides we'll just leave and she'll hit up the restroom at the Price Chopper next door on Madison Ave.

Somehow, on the 50 foot trip in the car ride from The Muddy Cup to Price Chopper, Shyvonne brings up chinese fire drills. So when Mrs. Smith pulls into the parking lot at Price Chopper, she stops right in the middle of the "road part" of the parking lot in front of the store and gets out. She proceeds to tell us to pull a chinese fire drill and she walks into the store leaving us parked in the "road part" and people staring at us yet again, laughing hysterically.

She comes back out a few minutes later unsuccessful in her search for a bathroom and comes around to the passenger side of the car where I was sitting and insists that I get out and drive for her! At this point I do and she decides to go back to The Muddy Cup. So we loop back around and she jumps out for round two of The Muddy Cup's bathroom. It's too horrible...unbearable even...she can't do it. Mind you we are all sitting in the car still and we see her walk out of The Muddy Cup with a look on her face and saunter over to the Madison Theater next door. A few minutes later she comes out looking happy and having successfully been able to use a clean restroom.

Finally, we get on our way back to Ravena and I'm still driving. Appearantly people in the Smith family get very easily lost because we went about 4 miles down the road and they see another Price Chopper and all of a sudden I hear Mrs. Smith say, "Hey, how'd we get back to this Price Chopper??? This is the same Price Chopper isn't it???" To which I am unable to respond at all because of the fact that I'm laughing so hard and can't spit out a comprehensible word!!! Shyvonne seems to second the idea of the same Price Chopper in the back seat. All of a sudden Mrs. Smith realizes that The Muddy Cup is missing from the picture which only makes me laugh even harder!

Several minutes of driving and hysterical conversation pass on the way back toward Ravena. We got as far as Glenmont when Mrs. Smith decided that she needed to stop at the Price Chopper in Glenmont to pick up a few things since it's 24 hours. I drop her off at the door and us girls stay in the toasty warm car to chat it up. Tick...tock...tick...tock... The minutes are passing by and Mrs. Smith has been in the store for a while! I decided to pull up into the fire lane and wait for her there because at this point the three of us ladies are thinking that she's got to be coming out any minute now...since she'd been in there for forever. Tick...tock...tick...tock... Still no sign of Mrs. Smith so I decided to turn the car off so we didn't waste gas. Tick...tock...tick...tock... Still no sign of Mrs. Smith and now it's getting pretty cold in the car so we decide to forget about saving gas and start it up again...

Or so we though...but the car wouldn't start. We tried 4 more times and prayed but were still unable to start the car. Now we all begin talking at the same time. "Oh no, what do we do?" "We need to go find your mom." "I didn't leave any lights on did I?" "There's nothing on, what happened? How come it won't start???" Well, Shyvonne decided she would go in and get her mom. The two come back out and now we get to try and figure out what we're going to do at 1:00am in Glenmont! Finally it's decided that we will go in and warm up and I will call Bubba. So I call his trusty cell phone figuring he had fallen asleep since he hadn't answered my last text.

Ring...ring...ring...ring...voicemail. Okay, well he's got to be sleeping. I'll call back and wake him up.

Ring...ring...ring...ring...voicemail. Wow, he must really be out...

Ring...ring...ring...ring...voicmeail. "Natalie, he won't answer his cell phone! Should I call the house number??? Are you sure??? I don't want to wake up grandma... Okay, I'll just try the house phone."

Ring...ri-"Hello???"

He was awake downstairs and had left the cell upstairs. So I quickly explained that the car was dead at Glenmont Price Chopper and we needed him to come and jump the car so that we could get back down to Ravena since I still needed to get my car from the church parking lot so that I could go back home to Glenmont. He told me he was on his way and would be there soon. In the meantime we decided to waste a bit of time in the store.

10 minutes or so later I get a text message..."I'm here." So I tell everyone he's here and we head outside. Wait...where is he...I don't see his truck anywhere... I texted him back..."Where?" And the response I got was..."You're at the Glenmont Wal Mart right?" Wow...he finally made it to the Price Chopper and got the car jump started for us. We made it down to Ravena A-Okay. I got my car and made it home around 2:00am... Unfortunately the coffee craziness had worn off by then and I simply passed out upon arriving home.

And that my friends is the latest adventure!

For He's A Jolly Good Fellow

Here's to Willie...Our dear friend from Cali! I just thought these would be pretty fun. Again I was searching through old pictures that I have, wondering what I could post that would be different. So in honor of someone who's definitely impacted our lives in NY I've posted these as a memory of the fun times with Willie!


He saw me getting ready to take a picture in the dark movie theater and made this lovely face...

This is how tiny the movie theater was...Willie is on Russ' shoulders and he's able to touch the movie screen...Oh, and the lights on either side indicate how wide the theater actually was...

The mummification of Willie...In the lobby at the theater...

And I'm pretty sure this was at Yanni's Restaurant in Coeymans. Again...what's with the faces Willie??? If we didn't know you any better we'd wonder if you ever smiled! It's a good thing we do know the good natured Willie though! Here's to you man!

More random posts to come my friends!!!

My Little Man

Since I have a ton of random pictures of my dog, Tucker, I figured I would do a special post just for him! So, without further ado, here goes...





This picture was taken within the last year. He's still a puppy here and he looks all cute and innocent. What you don't know is that we no longer have this couch anymore...





Why you ask???





Because he chewed the cushions...all three of them...to some degree. Some had very large holes that couldn't be hidden by flipping the cushion over. Others had minor holes in comparison. Needless to say, we have a different couch now...





Thanks Tucker!

This picture here was taken right after I had brought him home...probably within the first three months of him living with us. He was such a little squirt then! Again, he looks cute and innocent. But don't let that face and those eyes fool you! The chair he is sitting in...don't worry...we still have it. However it doesn't look like that anymore!!!

It looks more like this. I zoomed in on a picture of the chair in the background. If you look at the arm of the chair, you can see it's been chewed beyond repair. It actually is just a wooden arm on the chair now that the stuffing and leather has been chewed off!!!

Here's the story behind this one. It all started one night when I slept in the living room on the couch. Tucker was just a little pup at this point and I wanted to give him a night out of the kennel. In the past he would sleep on the couch with me and be fine all night. Well he had had more kennel time that day than he usually got so I wanted to let him sleep out of the kennel. I awoke at three in the morning to wierd noises coming from across the room. I sat up and fumbled around to find the switch for the lamp. When I finally was able to focus my eyes in the bright light I saw Tucker standing up on the arm of the chair, staring back at me with a mouth full of stuffing. Now it was only a little rip at that point, but over the past year and few months, it has turned into what you saw above...

I thought this one was just cool. His eyes are glowing and somthing happend with the flash to give him a bit of an eerie look. There are wierd streaks of glowing light all around him. I still don't know what happened and have not been able to replicate the glowing streaks of light since.

This picture and the following pictures were part of a random picture post effort. He was so sleepy and I kept waking him up to take the pictures. I'm sure he thought I was crazy! All he wanted to do was sleep. This is the dialogue I imagined was running through his head (in barks and woofs of course) while I was snapping shots.


Jess: Tucker...Watch me...it's picture time...

Tucker: I don't wannaaaaa...I'm too tired...Too sleepy...Sigh....

Jess: Come on Tucker! Tucker! Tucker! Watch me! Tucker...what are you doing little boy???

Tucker: I can't believe you won't even let me sleep! Fine...you want a picture, here's one...up close and personal. Now can I go back to sleep??? Sigh...

Jess: Come on Tucker...Watch me...One more baby...

Tucker: But I just want to go to sleep... I'm tired....Sigh....

Jess: Just one more Tucker...If this is a good one you can go back to sleep...I'll stop bugging you...Okay now, watch me...

Tucker: You promise? Just one more? Here goes...but you better keep your word! Sigh...

Jess: Good boy Tucker! What a good boy! Watching me for the picture...Okay...Go to sleep...Good boy!!!

Official Random Post #1

So here it is... After talking with Ellen the other night I decided to do a random post. Well what's more random than taking pictures of the TV (I was watching a Hallmark movie) during the commercials. These are all pictures of various commercials from the second to last commercial break in the movie...

See if you can figure out what they're for. Some are easy...Others I've NEVER heard of...

So there it is...my first Completely Random Post!!!

And there's still more to come...But I'll save it for another day.